In a move that would pit the country’s largest wireless provider against the biggest financial institutions in the land, Rogers Communications Inc. has quietly asked for a bank licence to allow it to issue credit cards and other financial products.

If approved by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, the new Rogers Bank would be “focused on credit, payment and charge-card services,” according to an announcement in the Sept. 3 edition of the Canada Gazette, a federal notice publication.

Observers said Tuesday Rogers appears to be moving along a path created by retailers such as Canadian Tire Corp. and Walmart Canada in which shopping relationships are expanded into the financial services business.

Others suggested the move represents a significant step toward establishing Rogers in the nascent business of mobile payments. Once a credit-card base is established, likely targeting Rogers’ 9.1 million wireless subscribers, it is perhaps a small step to wed the financial service to a Rogers smartphone.

There are othe big players, however, who likewise want a piece of the “smartphone wallet” — the concept of traditional transactions like debit or credit-card payments being performed on your mobile device — or the business behind it, at least. The list includes device makers Apple Inc. and Research In Motion, Ltd., which envision mobile payment solutions they control embedded in every handset, with fees for each transaction.

“This is the new battleground,” said Kevin Restivo, an analyst at telecommunications consultant IDC.

The move pits Rogers against traditional payment providers such as banks and other financial institutions that handle the bulk of transactional activity through their debit and credit-card operations.

“This is really [about] banks versus telcos,” sad one analyst, who asked for anonymity. “That’s what this is about, and it’s a brand new set of competitors Rogers is taking on.”

In an emailed statement, a Rogers spokeswoman said, “The license, if granted, would give us the flexibility to pursue a niche credit card opportunity to our customers should this make sense at a future date.”

The application process could take more than a year, she said.

Kaan Yigit, principal analyst at Solutions Research Group, said Rogers’ nine million customers compare with Toronto-Dominion Bank’s roughly 11 million in Canada. However, he noted that only about four million Rogers customers use smartphones. About half of those use basic mobile-banking applications to check balances or pay bills, he said.

Though more commonplace in certain Asian countries including Japan and South Korea, near-field communication (NFC) technology, which enables phones to directly perform retail purchases, is at best embryonic in Canada. Mr. Yigit said that is changing, and getting into financial services now presents “interesting possibilities” down the road for Rogers and potentially rival telecom operators, such as BCE Inc. and Telus Corp.

“Carriers with millions of billing relationships face a choice: let others monetize NFC and mobile money opportunities or get in the action,” he said. “From a consumer standpoint Rogers or Bell are as trustworthy as brands [such as] BMO or TD when it comes to mobile money.”